10 Companies That Are Saving The World

The world is a pretty fragile ecosystem. What is more important than saving the world? Every day new apps are made, retailers unveil new sales strategies, and banks trade millions.

But the following companies are the forward-thinking few that are focused on bettering the world.

Not every company can create new medicine or energy solutions to help us stay healthy now and in the future. But these companies focus their efforts on making the world a better place – and some of them make a ton of money doing it. Keeping the world afloat for generations is no easy task, but these are the public corporations that are focused on saving the world.

The average adult and adolescent typically has 2-4 colds per year. Americans spend $2.9 billion annually on over-the-counter medications, $400 million on drugs prescribed for symptomatic relief, and $1.1 billion on unnecessary prescriptions.

Dow Chemical will make sure drinking water is plentiful around the world

A subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (DOW), FilmTec Corporation, develops the DOW FILMTEC. This product filters industrial, municipal, commercial, and home drinking water by reverse osmosis and nanofiltration elements.

A majority of Dow's customers are equipment manufacturers of water treatment systems, water treatment installation engineering companies, industrial water users, and public and private water utilities. The vast reach of the filtration system has a large impact on the filtration of water for many uses worldwide.

Sales of water- and wastewater-treatment equipment to industrial users are expected to rise to $22 billion by 2016, up from $14 billion in 2010.

GlaxoSmithKline's malaria vaccine could save almost a million lives per year

For over 25 years, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been developing RTS,S, a malaria vaccine. The clinical trial is scheduled to continue through 2015 on over 15,000 children. In results from last October, the vaccine protected 47 percent of the 6,000 children tested.

"Preliminary results from the trial of a malaria vaccine show that it protected nearly half of the children who received it from bouts of serious malaria"

Approximately 900,000 people each year from malaria. The economic impact of malaria to Africa is roughly $12 billion per year.

Chipotle' (CMG) extremely transparent supply chain sets it apart from other fast food chains. All of the beef at Chipotle is naturally raised, the cows are even fed an entirely vegetarian diet and are not treated with any type of antibiotic or hormone.

Along with a clean supply chain, 75 stores added solar panels in 2009 and one restaurant in Gurnee, IL, became the first restaraunt ever to receive a platinum certification in the LEED rating system for implimenting their own wind turbine.

Tesla wants to make sure people like electric cars for more than just eco-friendliness

Matt Rosoff/Business Insider

Tesla (TSLA) was founded in 2003 with the intention to "prove that electric vehicles could be awesome," according to their website.

The Tesla Roadster was the first entirely electric sports car, and the new Model S is an entirely electric luxury sedan. Tesla is attempting to evolve the perception of electric cars, and offers an energy friendly automobile without the standard electric look. In addition to selling the two cars, Tesla also sells lithium-ion battery packs to automakers who develop electric cars. The market for electric cars is growing, and Tesla is right in the center of the action.

Gilead is developing an HIV pill that has fewer side effects than any that came before

FDA advisers are backing Gilead's (GILD) HIV Quad Pill. The pill is designed to treat HIV with fewer side effects than most current treatments. Gilead is currently the largest maker of AIDS drugs, so the company has significant experience in the field. The FDA is expected to decide whether to approve Quad on August 27.

“A once-a-day pill, depending on people’s lifestyle, that doesn’t have neuropsychiatric side effects could be very appealing,” said Demetre Daskalakis, an assistant professor at New York University School of Medicine’s infectious disease division. “I feel like people would pick the Quad as a first- line treatment.”

New Energy Technology will have all of the world's windows collecting solar energy

New Energy Technologies (NENE) and other scientists are working on brand new SolarWindow technology. This technology will allow the generation of electricity through glass that is see-through and contains a wiring system that is conductive to generate and transport the electricity.

"Ultimately, a fully functional SolarWindow product will lead to an overall improvement of power and an efficiency that has not been seen in the sustainable window market."

An artificial pancreas has been developed and tested by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) , labeled the Hypoglycemia-Hyperglycemia Minimizer (HHM). The first feasibility study of the product showed that the system was automatically able to predict a rise or fall in blood glucose and correspondingly increase or decrease the delivery of insulin safely.

“The successful completion of this study using the HHM System in a human clinical trial setting is a significant step forward in the development of an advanced first-generation artificial pancreas system,” said Dr. Henry Anhalt, Animas Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director of the Artificial Pancreas Program. “It lays the foundation for subsequent clinical trials, bringing us one step closer to making the dream of an artificial pancreas a reality for millions of people living with Type 1 diabetes.”

Google is cleaning up the entire world's energy, attacking the problem from multiple fronts

Google (GOOG) has invested in a number of clean energy products. According to its website, the company says it has invest over $915 million into renewable energy. Below are the investments Google has made.